Following this week’s SmackDown, Drew McIntyre competed in a dark match, and after his match, he cut a promo where he once addressed CM Punk.

McIntyre formally challenged Punk to a 1 vs. 1 match, and he even offered him a World Title shot:

"When I win the title, I’ll offer him a title match. His ego is so big, he will say ‘yes’ to the title match, social media will freak out, tickets will fly, there will be a buzz you’ve never seen. Punk and I will be in this ring, eye to eye with each other. The bell will ring, and then I’ll embarrass him worse than be embarrassed himself in the UFC and we’ll move on…”

McIntyre vs. Punk for the World Title will of course depend on McIntyre winning the World Title in two-weeks. Logic would assume that WWE will finally crown McIntyre, and if WWE throw a curveball into McIntyre’s match with Damian Priest, and have Punk cost McIntyre, it may cause a literal riot.  

Earlier this year, it looked like the World Title match for this year’s SummerSlam was going to be McIntyre vs. Punk. However, Gunther has thrown a spanner in the works. Gunther won the 2024 King of the Ring, and in doing so, he earned a World Title opportunity for this year’s SummerSlam event. This means that McIntyre vs. Punk for the World Title as a singles match can’t take place, and this has led to speculation that the match will take place at SummerSlam, but the match won’t be for the top prize on RAW.

There is the possibility of WWE delivering a triple threat with McIntyre, Punk and Gunther; however, the demand centres around seeing a 1 vs. 1 match between McIntyre and Punk, and anything else may be met with criticism and disappointment.

WWE fans are in for a wild summer, and it’s incredibly exciting that nobody seems to know the direction in which Triple H is taking the World Title.

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